Architecture student named MSU’s 2018 Epting/Mathews Co-op Student of the Year

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Self-motivated, hardworking, valuable and productive are some of the words that co-op supervisors and academic professors use to describe Nathan A. Miley, recipient of Mississippi State’s 2018 Epting/Mathews Co-op Student of the Year Award.

Recently recognized with a $1,000 scholarship at the MSU Career Center’s Cooperative Education and Internship Interview Day luncheon, the senior architecture major from Pearl completed his third co-op rotation this past spring in a yearlong experience with Birmingham, Alabama-based firm Williams Blackstock Architects. He worked on multiple projects ranging from beach homes to schools to commercial developments and traveled to work with clients in Georgia and the Florida panhandle. He also had opportunities to collaborate with project managers and principals, as well as conduct his own client meetings.

Miley was joined by Harry Freeman, sponsor for this year’s award who participated in MSU’s co-op program from 1961-66. Freeman is retired and currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

“The School of Architecture is proud that one of our students was selected for this important honor,” said Michael A. Berk, F.L. Crane Professor and director of MSU’s School of Architecture. “It is not at all surprising to me that Nathan’s nomination was successful. The feedback I received from Williams Blackstock Architects was outstanding. In the end, it really speaks to the quality of our faculty instruction in preparing students to enter into the professional practice of architecture.”

During his time at MSU, Miley has been involved in several campus groups, including the School of Architecture’s Studio Culture Committee. He earned the American Institute of Architects Mississippi Chapter’s Design Merit Award for his work on a plan for the MSU Golf Course Storm Shelters Project. Miley was a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society while attending Hinds Community College’s campus in Raymond. He received a two-year, $8,000 Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship when he transferred to MSU in 2014.

First presented in 2010, the Epting/Mathews Co-op Student of the Year Award is named in honor of former Career Center director Luther Epting and former co-op program associate director Mike Mathews, who served MSU for a combined 71 years. Both men played an integral role in the growth of MSU’s co-op program.

Students with a minimum 2.5 GPA who either have completed all three co-op rotations or are currently in their third rotation are eligible to apply. Among other criteria, applicants must submit letters of recommendation from their co-op employer and academic department, along with a personal statement and résumé.